I would raise that (probably in a letter) after I have received one of the much-coveted booklets. It's going to take you a long time to get the reimbursement through the bureaucracy anyway, although I am sure it will arrive at one point.
Your old passport should be sent back to you in any case.

Sent my passport expedited. Door to door time was 20 days. I'm overall pleased with the passport office (and not USPS).

4/17: Shipped my passport Priority Express.
4/21: Passport office received application.
4/25: Check shows up as cashed. I first checked the passport tracking system at this point and I was in the system.
5/04: I receive email that passport is shipped (Priority Express)
5/07: Passport received.

The most stressful part was the USPS; during the shipment of my passport to Philadelphia they just stopped scanning after it got to the local distribution center. It still hasn't showed that shipment as delivered.

But overall I shouldn't have worried, and the stated 4-6 week wait might just be the passport service underpromising but overdelivering.

Adult Renewal Standard Handling

3/29/21: Mailed (Express Mail) from NYC
3/31/21: Received Irving, TX
04/12/21: Acknowledged receipt said 10 - 12 weeks
05/03/21: The U.S. Department of State has shipped your passport book to you using Priority Mail.
05/04/21: The U.S. Department of State approved your application for your passport book. We're now printing your passport book and preparing to give it to you.
05/06/21: Passport received

Nice one! I'm happy to see this as we both sent our applications on April 17th, expedited. However mine is still in process... Hopefully it starts moving again.
BTW, if your Priority Express letter wasn't delivered on the 20th, you can ask to be reimbursed.

April 17th - deposited expedited US passport application at USPS for a child with priority express mailing.
April 21st - application delivered in Philadelphia (one day late).
April 23rd - application appears as "in process" online. "The U.S. Department of State has received your application for your passport book on 04/22/2021, etc."
April 28th - "in process" email received. No change since. I hope nothing else is wrong with my application (quality and size of photograph, etc...)

Maybe it's of small comfort but apparently one can request reimbursement of the expedited fee after an apparent 20 business days of inaction, or lack of progress of one's application:

https://travel.state.gov/content/tra...st/refund.html

Moderators, please feel free to delete this if it's been posted before. I don't remember seeing it but the thread is long.

Adult Renewal Standard Handling. Was due to expire in July. Have a trip on 07/31/21

04/09/21: Mailed (Priority Mail) from Vegas
04/13/21: Received in Irving, TX
05/10/21 Money order cashed

No other updates.

Only one data point but a worrisome one in that a) it took 4 days for priority mail to arrive (weekend notwithstanding, but it could have been a very big pile on Monday morning) and b) it took 4 weeks to take the payment when usually it takes just days after receipt. In this case using priority mail did not make a difference; let's hope this is not the sign of a trend.

Update (got our passport):

Service: Expedited (4-6wk quote) Adult Passport Renewal

Mailed 3/30/21
Delivered Philly 4/10/21
"In-Process" 4/20/21
Approved 5/4/21
Received 5/7/21
Old Passport Received 5/10/21

Almost 6 weeks from mailing to receiving (we sent it out Priority Mail, not Express overnight. DOS mailed it back Express Overnight but it took 2 days).
Exactly 4 weeks from "Delivered" to new passport Received.

I was talking with an American friend of mine this past week (an occasional Flyertalk contributor), who has lived outside North America for the last 40 years. They currently live near Essen Germany. His wife's passport is expiring and he sent it to the American Consulate in Frankfurt for renewal. While these datapoints are unlikely to help more than a small group of people who are working on renewals, thought it might be of interest to some readers. Received this email overnight:

"The DHL Deutsche Post mailman just delivered D*****'s new passport. I had mailed off the application on 26 April and we got it on 12 May. A total of 16 days, including transit both directions and processing time at the U.S. Consulate General in Frankfurt.

I noticed that the date of issuance is 30 April, so I surmise that they waited a week for the Cashier's Check to clear before they sent it out last Friday."

Frankfurt probably still advises that it's 4 week turns for passport applicants in Germany; but if it takes close to that long, then I would think that something has likely gone wrong somewhere.

I have often been dealing with passport applications submitted at US embassies/consulates in Europe. Even for in-person payment for applications -- with payment clearing immediately via cash or bank card payment -- but relying upon mail or courier service for the passport to get back to European residential addresses, a total of 9-16 days is within the range of what I've seen for in-person application submitted at US embassies/consulates in Europe on the beaten track. That's a part of why I am inclined to think that the above passport's return time was unlikely to be delayed after being issued to wait for a cashier's check to clear. Given the pandemic-related delays that have been hitting some applications submitted in Europe, and 16 days to get a passport back is actually good when not doing it all by mail/courier.

Was it a USD-denominated cashier's check from one of the US credit union branches in Germany that current and former US military personnel and family members use there? Not sure if it's still this way, but at least previously cashier's checks in the US would clear via a somewhat different process than checks written against regular current accounts at US banks.

Anyone here come across any US Passport Agency offices that have any online appointments available for tomorrow or Friday?

I was just hit up by someone today over an urgent work-related need for a US passport renewal to take a trip from the US to Africa since the country (at least according to state.gov) requires having 6 months remaining validity (beyond the entry date) on the passport. Couldn't find an appointment at any of the US passport agency offices for this week.

April 17th - deposited expedited US passport application at USPS for a child with priority express mailing.
April 21st - application delivered in Philadelphia (one day late).
April 23rd - application appears as "in process" online. "The U.S. Department of State has received your application for your passport book on 04/22/2021, etc."
April 28th - "in process" email received.
May 13th - "application approved" email received. The online status must also have changed recently (it was still showing in process earlier this morning). "You should receive your passport book on or around 05/16/2021." "Shipped" email received about two hours later.
Edit:
May 15th - passport received from Tucson in Priority Express mailing. It's the old model passport and the date of issue is May 12th.
May 22nd - received birth certificate back. The letter was postmarked on May 17th.

Finis.

(will continue to update as things progress)
Passport renewal in-process. Old passport was expired. Requested new book & card. Regular service (not-expedited). No planned international travel listed.

4/12/21: Mailed application from Austin, TX to Irving, TX via first class mail
4/16/21: (assumed) Application received in Irving, TX...no tracking on the envelope
5/12/21: Application Status shows up as "In Process" on website with a locator number and 10-12 week estimate
5/12/21: Cashed check appears on my bank account
??/??/21: Approved / Shipped Notifications
06/08/21: New passport book shipped from Houston, TX
06/09/21: New passport book received in Austin, TX (58 Days from ship to receive)
??/??/21: New passport card shipped
??/??/21: New passport card received
??/??/21: Old voided passport received

Expedited application results:

4/27: sent from hou to phl
4/29: Recieved, in process
5/25: informed that the passport was on its way to me from Tuscon.
5/27: arrived.